Gregory's home.
There you will find fifteen or twenty other guests, and after a
few minutes of light social banter a bell will ring and the
players will take their places. At your table will be Mrs. F.
Jamison Dollings (your partner) and Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Watts.
Mrs. Dollings (Sept. 6, 1880) is considered one of the most
expert "bridge" players in the city, while Mr. Watts has one of
the largest retail clothing stores in the central part of the
State. Mrs. Watts was one of the Van Cortlandt girls (the plain
one).
As you are probably (next to Mr. and Mrs. Watts) the worst
"bridge" player in the room it should be your duty to make up for
this deficiency by keeping the other three players
conversationally stimulated, for nothing so enlivens a game of
"bridge" as a young man or woman with a pleasing personality and
a gift for "small talk." Thus, at the very beginning, after you
have finished dealing the cards, you should fill in what seems to
you an embarrassing pause by telling one of your cleverest
stories, at the conclusion of which Mrs. Dollings will remark,
"We are waiting for your bid, Mr. S----."
The etiquette of "bidding," as far as you are concerned, should
resolve itself into a consistent effort on your part to become
"dummy" for each and every game. The minute your partner (Mrs.
Dollings) bids anything, it should be your duty as a gentleman to
see that she gets it, no matter what the cost.
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